That very matter of factness drove home to Jigano that he truly was sitting across from a stranger. The gentle young man with the boyish smile and stubborn optimism might share the same hair and bone structure, but this Remi had little in common with that one beyond the skin-deep. The bard heard that Remi felt nothing for the deaths...
And he felt a trickle of fear down his spine, nodding slowly in acknowledgment but hearing from the surety in the other man's voice that there was no argument that could be made against what he'd said.
Ronin's name needed no defiance. Not towards him, at least. He and Ludo's new disciple had never been close enough for his own feelings to be hurt by the casual casting away of the past, though he did tilt his head curiously. It was an interesting question that Remi posed. "If I were to change my personality, you mean? Many would not, no, if I became cruel." He thought of how he and Amalia had fallen apart, the rift that had divided he and Sam. How quickly things had turned sour between he and Sunjata when he wouldn't give Maea her way. "But in their defense, I would likely not want to remain friends with me, either, if that were the case. Were I simply not useful, though, I think they would remain. Most of them, at least."
He winced at hearing the once-loving alchemist toss his friendships aside as if they were dust to the wind. But after seeing how Loren had been acting, he appreciated the straightforwardness and lack of theatrics. "You know better than I, I think, how much work friendships require. After all that's happened to you, if you don't have the energy to spare for others besides Ronin right now..." He shrugged a little helplessly. "No one can change that. If you don't want to deal with that right now, that's the way it will be." He hesitated, then sighed, glancing down to Remi's tapping finger, listening to the rhythm with an idle ear for any beat that might be set to music.
"It won't stop people from seeking you out, though. For favors, as you said. For help, wanting to make use of your strength, or your magic. Would you avoid them all, if you could? Tell humanity as a whole to go to hell? Or do you still have a use for people right now?"
And he felt a trickle of fear down his spine, nodding slowly in acknowledgment but hearing from the surety in the other man's voice that there was no argument that could be made against what he'd said.
Ronin's name needed no defiance. Not towards him, at least. He and Ludo's new disciple had never been close enough for his own feelings to be hurt by the casual casting away of the past, though he did tilt his head curiously. It was an interesting question that Remi posed. "If I were to change my personality, you mean? Many would not, no, if I became cruel." He thought of how he and Amalia had fallen apart, the rift that had divided he and Sam. How quickly things had turned sour between he and Sunjata when he wouldn't give Maea her way. "But in their defense, I would likely not want to remain friends with me, either, if that were the case. Were I simply not useful, though, I think they would remain. Most of them, at least."
He winced at hearing the once-loving alchemist toss his friendships aside as if they were dust to the wind. But after seeing how Loren had been acting, he appreciated the straightforwardness and lack of theatrics. "You know better than I, I think, how much work friendships require. After all that's happened to you, if you don't have the energy to spare for others besides Ronin right now..." He shrugged a little helplessly. "No one can change that. If you don't want to deal with that right now, that's the way it will be." He hesitated, then sighed, glancing down to Remi's tapping finger, listening to the rhythm with an idle ear for any beat that might be set to music.
"It won't stop people from seeking you out, though. For favors, as you said. For help, wanting to make use of your strength, or your magic. Would you avoid them all, if you could? Tell humanity as a whole to go to hell? Or do you still have a use for people right now?"
